GANG-ROU CHUAN

A tough aggressive fighting art, Gang-Rou chuan is a south-east Chinese martial art that  attempts to consider the soft, yielding, relaxed and flexible techniques (Rou) as well as the hard (Gang); hence the name 'Gang-Rou' style. Gang-Rou Chuan has a well organised body of theory and practice, even some poetry, and a history that can be traced back to the 17th century.

Origins
Like many other styles, the origins of Gang-Rou chuan appear around the mid-1600s during the early Ching dynasty, possibly in 'the year of Xun-Zhi', 1646 to 1667. The Emperor was particularly concerned to suppress or prevent insurrection in various parts of the kingdom. His attention was drawn to the monks of a Southern Shaolin temple in Fujian Province whose great martial skills and fighting ability made them seem potential organisers of revolt and, indeed, they and many other Chinese, were very much opposed to the Ching government. The Emperor ordered the destruction of the temple and many monks were killed. Those that survived organised themselves into a secret society to obtain revenge and ultimately to bring down the Ching government. The slogan of the society was "Fan Ching - Fu Ming” i.e. "overthrow  the Ching - restore the Ming".
Some of the members of the society went to Zhejiang Province and started to teach martial arts although their real aim was to encourage resistance to the Ching. They often lived in remote mountain villages where they hoped to organise the people against the government. The local history books of the Wenzhou area record that at that time the fighting monks were referred to as 'Nan Man’  -  'wildmen of the south’.
When the monks came to Zhejiang they found a variety of martial arts already being practiced there, probably dating from the Sung or even Tang periods. These styles included 'hard' and 'soft’ and 'hard-soft’ or 'internal' and 'external’ and various combinations. One of the better known styles was Wen-Jia Chi-Shi-Er Xing which contained both hard and soft techniques. Another popular form at that time, with no particular name, was a combination of northern and southern styles. This derived from the fact that, in the 17th century, certain government officials were sent to Zhejiang from the North. They brought with them their bodyguards who were usually expert in the northern styles characterised by the long low stances, more stretched longer-range techniques, plenty of jumping, and high kicks.  They sometimes taught some of their techniques to the local people as the southerners often tended to admire and wish to learn from the northerners.
The southerners did not, however, like to learn the longer-range and high-kicking techniques, preferring their own low kicks and close-in methods. At the same time, the northerners also started to pick up some of the southerners’ fighting techniques. The bodyguards were sometimes invited to the homes of the rich people to teach their sons, or they would occasionally visit other teachers and teach tneir students. When they got older the bodyguards would retire and, to make a living, would start to teach martial arts.  Thus, there was considerable interchange between the northern and southern styles often producing completely new styles. And the martial arts situation was further stimulated and added to when the monks arrived in the province bringing their own south shaolin styles.
Other influences on the development of the martial arts in Zhejiang and ultimately on Gang-Rou chuan came from the numerous secret societies and temples. The former were of a political nature aimed at the overthrow  of the Ching government though putatively tradesmen’s or farmers’ mutual-aid or savings societies, or local defense units. One well known society was the Jin-Chian Hwei the head of which was a famous kungfu expert named Zhao Chi.  A later similar society in the early 19th century was the Shen-Guan Hwei led by Ah Hsue. The members of the secret societies emphasised the study of the fighting arts; the styles they practised, though not given any particular names, are connected with the roots of Gang-Rou chuan. And, in certain temples in various parts of Zhejiang, the monks native to the province were practising their own forms of kungfu. Some of the famous martial arts monks were Hwei Jue, Xio Han, abbot Bian Deng, and Lui Xing. The last of this line was Sifu Ma Da who was said to be still living in the 1990s, aged over 100, somewhere in the Wenzhou area.  So there at least three possible sources for the Gang-Rou style: monks, secret societies, and the ordinary people practising the fighting arts for their own interest.

Modern form
In more recent times the style was promoted by two respected martial artists, Chen Bu-Gao and his better-known son Chen Lan-Ching who, aware of the various styles and influences on the martial arts in Zhejiang, tried to pick out the best aspects and assimilate them into a united style. Chen Lan-Ching was an instructor to the army at the start of the Republic of China in 1911 teaching both unarmed and armed combat. It was while working as a combat instructor that he started to use the name Gang-Rou chuan to describe the fighting art he was employing which he had developed with his father Chen Bu-Gao. As a supporter of Sun Yat-Sen, he taught at the prestigious Huang-Pu military academy founded by Sun. As a result of a subsequent political division Chen left that job and started to teach on his own account in Canton and Fujian. He taught ordinary people, both city dwellers and peasants, sometimes finding that the forms of martial art already being practised were not greatly disimilar from his own style. When he returned to his original home in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, he had firmly established his reputation in what is now called Gang-Rou chuan.

Theory and training
As the name implies, Gan-Rou chuan is said to be divided into 2 parts: external and internal. The external practices, 'wai lian' , are intended to harden and toughen the body, the skin, bones, and veins in connection with both striking and receiving blows. The internal practices, 'nei lian', are concerned with the breath, control of breath in combination with giving and receiving strikes, and control and direction of chi.  It is admitted, however, that the ability to direct chi is unlikely to be achieved by most practitioners and it is the external or hard aspect of the style that is most noticeable.
Gang-Rou chuan is exemplified by the following characteristics: the stance must be steady and stable, every move must be simple but strong and firm, violent and aggressive, one must look fearsome, brave, unafraid, give the inpression of being like an unmoveable iron bell. The eyes are said to be 'like lightening', the head moves quickly, the hands are like claws or talons. When performing a technique chi comes up from the tantian point into the hands or feet, is forced into the strike to increase the power. Power comes from the waist and legs; the shoulders are aligned with the hip, the elbow is aligned with the knee, and the hand and fist with the toes. The shoulders are pulled down and the chest becomes a little concave. A certain amount of jumping is employed; the steps should be like a crane - light and springing; jump up and land lightly but strongly. Attention is given to facial expression: the eyes must look large and staring, the mouth stretched sideways like a demon, the neck tensed.
As regards stances, techniques are practised at 3 heights: high, mid-level, and low.  In training one may use a very low stance to improve leg strength and stability but may adopt a higher stance in use depending on the type of technique involved. The stances include si-ping-ma or ma-bu i.e. the horse-riding stance common to most martial arts; xi-bu a back-weighted stance; jiao-cha a cross-stepping stance; a low slightly forward-weighted stance with the rear leg bent and the heel raised known as chi-bu.
Punching: the arm looks straight on completion of a punch but is actually kept a little bent. The arm is supposed to remain relaxed and flexible until the power is applied at the moment of contact. The arms are kept in front of the body to cover the centre line and the elbows stay close in to protect the sides of the body. Attacks must be made steadily and under control but as hard as possible. But, when the opponent's attack is hard, a soft or flexible response should be used to deflect the attack; if the opponent uses a 'softer' technique then one should use a 'hard' technique.  The hands, eyes, steps, and body movements are united into one; the hand arrives, the step and body should arrive all at the same time, the hands and feet move simultaneously. The breathing should be co-ordinated with the attack to unify the 'external' and the 'internal'. 'Chi' is supposed to sink into the rounded hard abdominal area, the lower body steady and firm. The abdomen is kept slightly rounded outwards and hard all the time not just tightened when completing an attack.
There are 3 upper-body positions known as tun, tu, and chen. With the tun position the chest is slightly bent in, shoulders founded, used mainly in receiving or in the softer 'giving-way' responses to attack. Tu is opposite, used mostly in hard attacking movements when applying power. Chen is a sinking or contracting movement like tun but with the shoulders bent forward much more, used particularly in performing downward elbow strikes.
The hand techniques can be divided into fist strikes and open-hand strikes or movements.  The most used of the latter is the 'claw' hand intended for ripping techniques, longer-range attacks, squeezing the throat, thrusting fingers into the opponent's mouth and ripping or grabbing and unhinging his jaw. Used to a somewhat lesser degree, are the hand-edge strikes, finger-thrusts and open-palm strikes. Elbow and knee strikes are used for close-range fighting and, for very close-in fighting there are certain shoulder strikes, shoves, strikes using the hip, and a few throws and grappling techniques.
The hand techniques can be categorised into ten basic types: zhua, grab and squeeze; na grasp as for a joint lock; tsung twisting straight punch; za back-fist strike; pi bottom-fist or knife hand strike done in a vertical downward fashion; guan hook; kan knife hand strike done horizontally or diagonally; zhuang a shove using the elbow or shoulder; sao crossing sweeping hook type punch; lou open hand used to guide the opponent's hand away in blocking or to go around the opponent's body for a throw. Blocks include the hard wrist or forearm striking blocks and the lighter open-hand or palm blocks and deflections or rediirections of the opponent's incoming strike.
Kicks are rarely used in Gang-Rou chuan. This is probably due to the circumstances in which the style was practised and put to use: that is, fighting and training often occurred in rocky mountainous areas, or boats, in wet rice fields, slippery narrow paths, where it was considered more important to maintain a stable stance than to risk losing one's balance by performing a kick and the more close-in nature of the fighting did not make kicks so convenient. Where space and circumstances permit, a few simple kicks can be utilized. The most common one is a downward stamping or thrusting kick using the outer edge of the foot and aimed at the opponent's knee, shin, ankle, or foot and a similar low side snap kick. There is also a low sleeping kick using the inside edge of the foot and a kind of hooking step to go around the oppenent's ankle or knee to unbalance him. Although not formally practised, sometimes a low front snap-kick using the heel. is employed.

Training methods
First,stances are practised with the emphasis on a low strong horse-stance with the base of the spine turned under and the legs about one yard apart. This stance is often practised with a weight on the shoulders; or squats, like in weight-training, are done.  In the horse stance, the hips can be rotated to either side to produce a more forward-weighted stance; this may be combined with a step forward allowing the rear foot to slide in slightly. Also, in the horse stance, jumps are practised; usually one jumps and turns 180° to land lightly but strongly facing the other direction, still in the same stance. Either the hands are held on the waist or a simple hand technique is combined with the jump. Often a weight will be held when jumping, or jumping squats with a weight on the shoulders may be performed, Subsequently, the other stances are introduced and the various types of stepping, moving, evading, and so on.  Punching, blocking, striking, grabbing, and other basic techniques are gradually introduced.
From a very early stage in the training a practice known as pai-da is included. At first, the beginner slaps himself all over his upper body, as far as possible, particularly on the pectorals and abdominals. Then a partner will assist by slapping: the student's body and back gradually increasing the force of the slaps. Later, the partner will hit the student with, for example, a bunch of chopsticks or a stick. Then, rather than slapping, the partner will begin to use kicks and punches on the student's body. The forearms will be toughened by wrist banging or blocking drills. The purpose of pai-da is to get the student used to being struck and hopefully to become able to receive blows without feeling either pain or shock. The hands are toughened by pounding various types of bag or thrusting into buckets of rice, beans, gravel etc. Students may also pick up large jars filled or unfilled to develop hand, arm, and shoulder strength, or catch and squeeze small stones. When a high enough level has been reached, the student will hit or strike any hard surface such as a wall or furniture. Some people use certain types of medicines or linaments in this type of training but most do not.

Theories, ideas, and advice concerning the practice of Gang-Rou chuan have been codefied and set out into a kind of poem. Written in some parts in a somewhat archaic and obscure form of Chinese, it would not be easy for someone outside the style to comprehend. A few of the first and less arcane lines are given; the members of the style do not wish more than that to be made public.
'Bend your knees as on horse-back. Your ten toes cling to the ground.  And all your strength channels through the muscles. Widen the horse stance and turn the base of the spine under.  The Tantian point turns inwards. Chi flows into the abdominal area and stops at the Earthly Gate.'

The movements and techniques outlined above are usually performed one-by-one then put into combinations as the student becomes more competent. They should be done smoothly and with the correct focusing of power. Then longer sequences are taught to increase the flexibility and variety of techniques.
When a sufficient number of basic techniques are known, the student is taught one of the longer forms called tao-lu. The tao-lu involve a sequence of connected techniques; punches, kicks, jumps, turns, blocks, defense and attack, and so on.  In all there are about 70 to 80 forms but they are really variations and/or developments of the 6 major fundamental forms.  These comprise: 1) 'The Three Cranes'; 2) 'Strike and Fight1; 3) 'Double Horses'; 4) 'Lesser Seven Stars'; 5) 'Lesser Four Doors'; and 6) 'Five Chickens'. Each tao-lu includes many of the techniques found in the other forms but also has its own particular characteristics; they are not ordered according to level of difficulty.

In addition to the empty hand forms, there are a number of weapon forms. These include the following: Mei-Hua or 'Plum Blossom' staff; Winding Dragon stick; long pole; heavy straight swoird; short stick; double heavy clubs; double mallets; double iron rulers; Plum Blossom sabre.
The tao-lu, empty-handed or weapons forms, are, as is usual, performed solo.

Apart from these, there are various blocking drills done with a partner, and pre-arranged self-defense routines to practise the techniques. There is light no-contact sparring and a rougher semi- or contact sparring for those of a high enough level. The members of the style are not interested in entering free-style sparring tournaments and there is no sport aspect in Gang-Rou chuan.


Although there is the 'softer' or 'internal' side to Gang-Rou chuan, it is clearly a hard agressive style and, with its emphasis on body conditioning and the custom of training bare-chested, has seldom had any female adherents. However, in the 19th century a branch of Gang-Rou chuan did develop suitable for women. In the 1860s a Fujian nun who had managed to learn some Gang-Rou chuan was living at a temple on Yiandan mountain. She began to teach some of the local women who worked on the boats and were often subject to attacks or rape. She taught a modified form of Gang-Rou style involving more grabbing and open-hand techniques, more attention to evading movements and no body-conditioning, the emphasis being on defense. This style has now almost disappeared and there is, as far as anyone knows, only one woman who still knows it; an 80-odd year old lady living in Wenzhou who further improved the form by adding elements of Tai Chi Chuan.

Unlike some martial arts which have lost their 'martial' aspect and, in some cases, deteriorated into mere performance arts or 'health systems', Gang-Rou chuan continues to be practised in the hard traditional way focusing mainly on combat effectivesness and fighting applications.